A Daily Download

Michael Jackson

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Michael Jackson is dead . When I was in school in 1980s-Chennai, Michael Jackson was the man and Billie Jean was the song. My neignbour, several years older, was supposedly studying engineering at Manipal and he had introduced me to such engineering school staples as Jethro Tull and Deep Purple (and also such oddities such as Tina Charles and Giorgio...

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Nandan Nilekani

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
News that Nandan Nilekani has been appointed chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India doesn't come as a surprise to me because: 1. It was scooped by Indian Express . 2. It has been evident to anyone following Nandan's progress over the past decade that he would end up in public office, sooner than later. It also seems apt...

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Dif-tor heh smusma

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
It is evident that Mint is full of Star Trek junkies . Which probably is a good giveaway of the average age of the organisation. For most of us who grew up in India, our first brush with Star Trek was in the 1980s, when Doordarshan, the state-owned broadcaster aired the original series. I still remember episodes from that series -- such as Mudd's...

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Are you finding nothing to buy in bookstores?

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
I am, and that feeling of emptiness surely has to be a booklover's purgatory. Since I know the person who used to run India's biggest distribution chain and because I have met with the approval of the man who runs the excellent small bookstore in my neighbourhood -- he only communicates with people whose taste in books he approves of -- I asked...

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The recession must be over because....

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
... people are eating more chicken. Or chicken nuggets, to be exact. So claims an email from McDonald's India 's external communication agency that found its way into my inbox this morning. The purpose of the mail was to pitch for a story on what the sender of the email termed a "great product." The product in question is Chicken McNuggets...

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Why we believe

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
On Friday, India went to bed preparing itself for days, maybe weeks of uncertainty before the next government was sworn in. On Monday, it came into work, expecting almost the world of the new government whose swearing in is imminent, and merely a matter of form. The events of the intervening days may explain why the stock market breached the upper circuit...

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So, what's your letter of choice?

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
I read this morning that the recovery we are seeing in the Indian economy could be a W-shaped one. That set me thinking -- not about the economy or the recovery, but the alphabet. The thing is, economic cycles are plotted against time, which means that not every letter can be used to describe either a boom or bust. Time is usually plotted on the X-axis...

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Is Delhi better than Mumbai?

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
That's my finger. I voted today -- the choice was quite simple really; I simply voted for the candidate who took the trouble to meet me and tell me what he plans to do if elected -- and, according to the Election Commission, so did one out of two Delhi-ites. That number is much higher than the 41-44% turnout seen in Mumbai, despite the general perception...

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I watched Watchmen

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Last Sunday, I watched Watchmen . Despite the not-so-favourable reviews the movie received internationally, and the fact that director Jack Snyder chose to do away with the entire metafiction loop in the book, I enjoyed the movie. Here's why: 1. The title sequence: Set to Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A Changing, this has to be the most evocative...

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Traffic and the slowdown

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Are there fewer vehicles on the roads of Indian cities? And is this because of the slowdown? If so, does it mean that most people whose job requires them to be on the road are now spending more time in the office -- not exactly the best way to boost sales in a slowdown? Or does it simply mean more people are using public transport? An executive I met...

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Why Mumbai showed India the finger

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Mumbai may have flipped India a bird by simply not turning up to vote yesterday -- despite attempts by activisit groups to get them to exercise their franchise. According to the Election Commission, voter turnout in Mumbai was between 42% and 45% this time, as compared to 47% in the 2004 parliamentary elections. But does anyone know why those who voted...

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The starlings were here

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
The last of the rosy starlings seem to have left Delhi. And, like their arrival, their departure too hasn't been noticed by most Delhi residents. To me, however, these birds will remain one of the most evocative symbols of the city. Every year, in early April, tens of thousands (some say hundreds of thousands) of rosy starlings -- so called for...

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Dhoni and the hero to zero syndrome

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
So, M S Dhoni can do no wrong. India's cricket captain, who has been named by Wisden as captain of the Wisden Test XI for 2008, is in that zone that many Indians in public life and several Indian companies have found themselves -- the zone where they can do no wrong. Thus, Dhoni can afford to draw the third Test against New Zealand, after being...

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11 for all formats

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Reuters has an interesting story on Virender Sehwag today. It quotes an article by former New Zealand cricketer Martin Crowe that says: "Given his innings in test cricket, triple hundreds, exploits in Twenty20s and, obviously, one-dayers, he continues to defy really what batsmen have been trying to do for ages." The reference -- what batsmen...

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Jim Morrison's lyrics are sheer nonsense

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
The two songs most commonly mauled by college bands are Hotel California and Roadhouse Blues. Roadhouse Blues, a song by The Doors , is one of those songs that some people seem unable to grow out of. Some of these people mistakenly assume the number to be a blues song (because of the name). The same people also think The Moody Blues is a blues band...

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